Floor or paving for tennis courts and other purposes



Feb. w, 19%, L4M-,5TM

H. G. LLOYD FLOOR OR PAVING FOR TENNIS COURTS AND OTHER PURPOSES FiledOC'. 2l 1921 iwi,

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#HW IH U1 u! l fllll'lu" wir Patented Feb. i9, i224.

NETE@ .nanny eanninnn LLofrn, or sunmfron, ENGLAND.

,FLOOR OR lAVINGr FOR TENNS COURTS .Ai/ND OTHER PURPOSES.

application med october 21, i921. semi No. 509,341.

T all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that l, HENRY Genomen LLOYD, a subject of the King ofEngland, residing at Surbiton, Surrey, England, have invented certainnew and useful Im'- provements'in Floorsor Paving for Tennis Courts andOther Purposes7 of which the following is a specification.

This invention is for improvements in or `10 relating to floors orpaving for 'tennis courts or other purposes and has for one of itsobjects to facilitate the'drying of the surface. lt is vvery desirablethat uncovered tennis courts should dry rapidly in order that play lemay be recommenced quickly after a shower of rain, but to build thecourts on'such a slope or with such a camber as will permit of this formof drainage is open to the objection that it interferes with accurateplay upon the courts. A

According to the primary feature of the present invention there isprovided a' floor or paving'for tennis courts and other purposes whichcomprises a mainv layer of material which is impervious, orsubstantially so, to water and which ischaracterized by the provision ofa plurality of drainage. holes extending downwardly the'rethrough.-

rlhese holes are preferably lequally spaced and arranged in regularformation all over the surface of the court as closetogether as 'isdesirable. lmpervious concrete may be employed for the main layer andthere may be underneath it a well drained `foundation of rolled clinkeror other suitable material. rlf'he main layer of concrete may bereinforced with diagonally or triangularly arranged wires lyingvhorizontally between the holes, or with other suitable material.

The aforesaid main layer ofthe material may itself constitute theplaying surface or it may be covered with a supplementary layer ofporous material such as porous concrete. Thus water would pass throughthe pores of the covering layer` until it reached the perforationsl inthe main layer, and to facilitate drainage through these perfora tionsthe upper surface of the main layer j may be provided with channelsleading to the upper ends of the perforations and intended to collectwater which has percolated through the-supplementary covering layer.

For a more complete understandin of the invention there will now bedescri ed, by way of example only and with 'reference to theaccompanying drawings', certain constructional forms of tennis courtsaccording tothe invention. It is4 to be understood. however, that theinvention is not limited to the precise-details illustrated.

In these drawings r- Figure lis a plan view of a portion of a tenniscourt embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-section through a por-v tion thereof.

Figure 3 'is a similar'cross-section of a modified construction, and

Figure 4 another similar cross-section of a further modification.

Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

Referring first of all to Figures l and 2. in building upa tennis court,as illustrated herein, there is first of all laid down a foundation 10of clinker or other suitable material.` -This foundation minst. be welldrained and well rolled so as to beirm and level. -Upon this, foundationis arranged the main layer .1l of concrete. This layer may be built upin situ or may be manufactured in slabs elsewhere and laid in positionupon the foundation. The ilayer 11 is preferably provided Vwithreinforcements such as the wires 12 and these may be arranged diagonallyor in any other desired formation. The layer ll -is of .imperviousconcrete and should be made as strong as possible as it has to impartstability and permanence to the tennis court and 1nain tain the lattertrue. is 2 to 211; parts by weight of gravel containing sand to l partby weight of Portland cement. Such a 'mixture can be 'made into animpervious concrete. To permit of the passage of water through itperforations 13' are formed at intervals. lf the layer ll is toconstitute the playing surface, a construction which is illustrated inFigure Ll, the perforations 13 should be only of small diameter, say forinstance a quarter of an inch.l in order not to interfere with therebound of a ball, but where,- as illustrated in yFigures l, 2 and 3,the layer l1 is cov- ;ered with a supplementary layer let, the

perforations 13 may be of larger size.

rEhe supplementary covering layer le, see

A convenient mixture l particularly'Figures 2 and 3, is intended' to bemade of porous concrete in order that water may pass through it readilyso as to drain away through 'the perforations 13. To facilitate drainagethe upper surface of the layer 11 may be trough shaped, the

sloping parts 15 of the surface 'conducting to the perforations 13 anywaterv which percolates through the layer 14.- The layer is 3 or 4 partsby weight ef'sand to 1 ofk If the grains ofsand are subcement. istantially the same size and substantially spherical, and iffurthermore, care is taken*l to use only a sluglicient quantity of waterto lproduce a mixture of a dry consistency, it

1 lwill be foundV that avery porous layer ing lines 16 of the court.

can be made which will adhere to the' main layer 11 and whichwill-present a good plain playing surface. The playing `surface maybecoloured green or any other 'desired colour either duringy manufactureor 4after the court is laid.

The layer 14 may be laid after the layer 11 has been built into positionor slabs may be made, as illustrated lin Figure 3, each of whichcomprises a main layer 11 and a covering layer 14, and "then these slabsmounted upon the foundation 10. It is a .feature of the presentinvention 'so to proportion and arrange the slabs in either or both ofthe layers 11 and 14 that in any one layer they abut only along themarks By tiis means cracks and joints on other parts of the courts willbe largelyl avoided. The marking lines 16 may, as illustrated in Figure2,

only

-be formedby a strip of the layer 14 which is ofadierent colour from theco-extensive parts of the said layer, or as illustratedv in Figure 8,narrow slabs each comprising a portion of both of the layers 11 and 14may be used to constitute the markino' lines.

In some circumstances it may the found desirable to perfo'rate thesupplementary covering layer 14, but this will probably not usually benecessary.

Itis to beundersttod that the invention is not limited to the precisedetails set forth.

For example, instead of-concrete, asphalty paving canbe employedvinso'me circumstances. 4

I claim i 1. A floor or paving for tennis-courts and the likecomprising'a main layer 4of material which is impervious to water andwhich has a plu'rality'of drainage holes extending downwardlytherethrough, said layer being formed'in slabs which are of such sizeand which are so placed as to abut on the marking lines of the court,for

the purpose specified.

2. 'A floor or paving for tennis colirts and the like comprising amainlayer'of ma-` f terial which is impervious to Waterand which has aplurality of drainage holes extending downwardly therethrough, and asupplementary ycovering layer of porous on the marking vlines of thecourt, Vfor the purpose specified. Y

A floor or paving for tennis courts and the like .comprising a mainlayer of material which is impervious to water and Iwhich has aplurality of drainage holes extending downwardly therethrough and asupplementary covering layer of vporous material situated above said4perforated layer, both of said layers being formed in slabs which are ofsuch size and which are so placed as to abut only on the marking linesof thecourt, for the purpose specified.

4. A floor or paving for tennis courts and other purposes comprising anuppermost layer 'of porous concrete, said porous con-v crete beingformed of sand grains substantiallyspherical and substantially the samesize, and cement, these materials being presi ent in such proportionsthat there is insufficient cement to lill completelythe voids' betweenthe grains'of sand, and only Sullicient Water being usedin themanufacture ofthe concrete as will produce amixtureof dry consistency.

`-5. A tennis court, comprising a main layer of materialwhich at leastwithinthe boundaries determined by cooperating markinglines thereon isof unbroken `construction said material bein'g impervious to Wa- -terand having a pluralit of drainage holes extending downwardly teret'hrough, anda supplementary covering layer of porous materialsituated above the main layer, the upper surface of'said main layerbeing shaped to provide channelsblead'ing to the upper ends of saiddrainage holes, for the purpose specified.

6. A floor or paving for tennis courts material situated above saidperforated I and otherpurposes comprising an uppermost layer -of-porousconcrete said porous concrete being formed of .sand grains subdstantially 'sphericall and substantially the sa-me size and cement, inthe proportions of 'from 3 to 4 partsby weight of sand to 1 part byweight of cement,` only sufiicient water being used in the formation ofthe concrete to 'produce a mixture of dryv consistency.

ture. i HENRY GARDIN ER LLOYD.

In testimony whereof I aix my signa-

